BAI COMMUNICATIONS CONNECTS COMMUNITIES
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BAI Communications
on
OCTOBER 2018
03
the move WRIT TEN BY
JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY
ANDY TURNER
w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com
Communications infrastructure specialist BAI Communications is moving fast into new markets: to do this it needed to realign the perception of IT in the business and move its technology to the cloud
P 04
eople of all generations now
a train is a frustration that BAI Commu-
accept that their mobile
nications is making a thing of the past.
phone is the technology hub
BAI Communications operates
that enables every aspect of life. Work,
in Australia (Broadcast Australia),
entertainment, social interaction,
Hong Kong, Canada, the UK and in
information, shopping, finances, learn-
New York with majority-owned BAI
ing: the device in our pocket gives us
Communications company Transit
access to all of it – just so long as we
Wireless. The company designs,
eople of all generations now accept that
builds and operates communications
their mobile phone is the technology
infrastructure – cellular, Wi-Fi,
hub that enables every aspect of life.
broadcast, radio and IP networks. In
Work, entertainment, social interaction,
Australia through Broadcast Australia,
information, shopping, finances,
it owns and operates one of the
learning: the device in our pocket gives
most extensive transmission networks
us access to all of it – just so long as
in the world, delivering 59 million
we can connect.
broadcasting hours to 99%
Mobile devices are now used
of the population. In times of crisis,
predominantly for data. So, exceptional
national broadcasters rely on them
cellular coverage and Wi-Fi is very
to maintain the connection with
important. People expect this data
Australians – flood, fire, cyclone or
connectivity, whether for texting,
other natural disaster – and emergen-
browsing or streaming. Having the
cy services rely on BAI to help keep
signal drop, or no signal at all, on
them informed.
Peter Turnbull, CIO BAI Communications 05
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In New York and Toronto, BAI enables more than 7 million* daily subway commuters to shop, share, stream, earn and learn through its cellular and Wi-Fi networks and in Hong Kong, commuters on the MTR collaborate, create and stay connected thanks to their trusted expertise in designing and delivering high-quality networks in confined and complex transport systems. In the UK, with its global network of experts paired with local in-depth knowledge, it is working with industry leaders
“ Switching the mindset and moving the conversation from ‘IT and the business’ to ‘IT is part of the business’ that continues to enable but also contributes to the business strategy, has been fundamental” — Peter Turnbull, CIO, BAI Communications
to explore the role of technology in
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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ABOUT BAI COMMUNICATIONS’ 07 the transport system of the future. Peter Turnbull joined BAI in 2015 as
as it was challenging – establish a technology platform to modernise
its CIO. He brought with him many years’
the core IT capabilities of a mature
experience in the banking and financial
business (Broadcast Australia),
services sector, but as he says: “Core
enable the wider BAI Communications
technology is ubiquitous, you really
Group to enter into new regions and
challenge yourself to understand how
build a foundation to connect our
the business capabilities interact and
established international subsidiar-
learn the language of the domain.”
ies.” These three goals presented
While broadcasting is a key service of
a challenge he found irresistible.
BAI in Australia through the Broadcast
Though the technology infrastructure
Australia business, the company had
was largely on-premise and imperfectly
already started its expansion into
connected across the group, he
transit communications in other markets.
quickly realised his biggest challenge
“The brief I was given was as unique
was cultural. Like many traditional IT w w w.ba i c o mmuni c a t i on s . com
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
Peter Turnbull Peter Turnbull is Chief Information Officer at BAI Communications An energetic business and technology executive with solid commercial experience in people and team leadership, service and program delivery, software development, business integration, IT governance and vendor management.
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Over the past 20 years Peter has held multiple operational and leadership roles predominately in software development, wealth management, product development, professional services and assetbased leasing. Peter has successful transformed technology environments for financial services firms, decoupled technology environments from U.S parents and introduced Greenfield ICT capabilities and innovations as a vendor and as an IT Leader. Peter has a genuine understanding of how people, processes, data and technology blend together to deliver measurable business outcomes. Key Specialities: Merger and acquisition, people leadership, technical, application and data architectures, decoupling and integration of ICT environments, program delivery, vendor management and operational service delivery.
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organisations, IT operated as a service provider with a contract to ‘the business’. Switching this mindset and moving the conversation from ‘IT and the business’ to ‘IT is part of the business’ that continues to enable but also contributes to the business strategy, has been fundamental. This mindset shift is a two-way street, “as technologists we need to accept
“ As technologists we need to accept that IT no longer controls all things technology, this takes some getting used to” — Peter Turnbull, CIO, BAI Communications
that IT no longer controls all things technology, this takes some getting used to; the convergence of operational technology (OT) and IT along with ‘Edge 10
IT’ (his preferred name over shadow IT) has meant we are now a key partner helping to build new capabilities. We are domain experts in enterprise technology, our role is to establish a solid
Turnbull calls ‘enterprise plumbing’.
foundation and ensure the enterprise
“We will never be fast enough to take the
plumbing works and then partner, guide
business forward unless we have a solid
and enable our peers and their people
and adaptable set of infrastructure
on their own technology journey.”
capabilities and services to work with.” The original infrastructure he found
PILLARS OF TRANSFORMATION
was a traditional, on-premise infrastruc-
The digital transformation started in
ture, that was out of support, challeng-
2016. In describing the transformation
ing to manage and “not capable of
for BAI it is helpful to look at the four
meeting our requirements to modernise
pillars on which it depends. The first of
the Broadcast Australia business let
these was to provide a firm foundation
alone connect our international ones”.
and transform the infrastructure that
“We needed an infrastructure capable
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of bringing together IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
in his quest to move the infrastructure
and on-premise solutions. We needed
to a service model, located in the Cloud.
a fast network at each regional office,
“We have built a virtual data centre
as the existing links would not support
capability in Azure and challenged
our cloud-first aspirations. We needed
ourselves to have 80% of our workload
a set of core technology services
running in the cloud by 2020. We moved
including identity management, to run
our provisioning process to Azure
and support this infrastructure and
Resource Manager (enabling infrastruc-
most importantly, we need an infra-
ture-as-code) and rebuilt our identity
structure that could support future
and access management capability
convergence of OT and IT.�
using Azure Active Directory (AAD).
After careful consideration Turnbull
This was a game changer because it
decided a Microsoft stack was optimal
provided a way to bring together our w w w.ba i c o mmuni c a t i on s . com
subsidiaries, manage access to cloud
to enable ‘boundless collaboration’ no
services with single sign-on and
matter what time-zone people were in
quickly deploy user and device
or device they were using and how to
services like multi factor authentica-
provide a consistent and integrated
tion (MFA) and conditional access
experience for everybody. To achieve
which have traditionally been complex
this, Turnbull deployed Office 365,
or expensive to deploy and maintain.”
starting with Yammer.He progressively introduced core services including
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A NEW WORK ENVIRONMENT
Exchange Online, Skype for Business,
The second pillar, which ran in parallel
OneDrive and Microsoft Teams
with the infrastructure overhaul, was
across Australia and the UK with plans
building a modern workplace, which
to integrate the other international
wasn’t just a hardware and Windows
subsidiaries over the next 12 months.
refresh, but a full rethink on how to
“Yammer was the first Office 365
securely access, surface and share
service we deployed in Australia,” he
information across subsidiaries, how
says. “It is a great tool for building
“ We have built a virtual data centre capability in Azure, and challenged ourselves to have 80% of our workload running in the cloud by 2020” — Peter Turnbull, CIO, BAI Communications
open, cross-functional communities
“Not only was it a big cost saving;
which have become key in transform-
suddenly you could effortlessly
ing the way we share information.” As
connect our international businesses
an example, operational questions or
into a meeting with video, voice, screen
issues with operational equipment are
sharing and instant messaging. I can
being shared over Yammer, drawing
walk into a meeting room and click
in responses from engineers across
one button to join a meeting instead of
Australia who may have encountered
having to find a dial-in number, type in
the same problem or had previous
the conference code and remember
experience with the equipment.
a PIN. Best of all when we move into
There are other game changers in
new countries we don’t have to set up
the stack. “Skype for Business has
PBX infrastructure, we just provision
replaced over 15 PBX solutions and
phone numbers and conferencing
introduced new ways to communicate,
services through a single portal.”
some expected and some unexpected,” says Turnbull.
They have deployed several Surface Hub devices, which have really
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changed the way meetings are conduct-
(even remotely) when you’re able to
ed, he adds. “With integrated Skype,
collaborate like this.”
a digital whiteboard and wireless
Recognising that BYOD can be
projection to the screen, I walk into
complicated, Turnbull introduced
a meeting and we don’t have to sit
a CYOD (choose your own device)
down anymore.
workstation approach running
“We are standing up, collaborating on
Windows 10. Faced with the need to
a digital whiteboard and effortlessly
replace older hardware, staff were
bringing people together (inside and
given a range of workstation options.
outside the organisation), through
This combined elements of choice and
technologies such as Skype/, Teams,
interoperability. These new implemen-
document co-authoring and digital
tations and policies came of course
whiteboards accessible on any device”.
with the challenge of change manage-
It’s a much more engaging experience
ment. One of the most effective ways
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WORKING IN EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS – BROADCAST AUSTRALIA’ 15
of helping people, he says, was to set
tion of mobile device management)
up communities on Yammer – the most
in any location.
popular of these was the ‘modern
He’s also really pleased with the
workstation’ group where people could
introduction of the latest service for cor-
pose any questions they had. This
porate video sharing, Microsoft Stream.
group quickly evolved into a self-ser-
Distributing information via a blog has
vice platform for change management
been augmented by fortnightly videos
as, rather than having to wait for an
and interviews with specialists in the IT
answer from the service desk, their
team to explain current projects.
queries could be directed collabora-
“All this is accessible on their mobile
tively to other sources and resources
devices, their workstation or their home
within the business. It’s a dynamic
PC. Now we are combining video
repository of knowledge accessible
distribution with blog posts and posts
from any device (through the introduc-
in Yammer. Communication needs to w w w.ba i c o mmuni c a t i on s . com
come through diverse channels,
One of the first solutions introduced
recognising that people consume
was a data warehouse hosted in Azure.
information in different ways.”
The solution, implemented by Altis,
The Office 365 suite has enabled
provided a way to integrate data from
our modern world at BAI: “Being cloud-
systems of record, as well as data from
based makes it much easier for us
other internal and external API’s using
to enter new geographical markets.”
the Azure Data Factory. “We now bring together large volumes
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DATA AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
of data, from multiple sources, and
The third pillar of transformation is
consume or use in their technology
focused on information management
solutions and business processes.
and Peter Turnbull is sponsoring
When we need additional internal or
this initiative across the Broadcast
external data, we use established
Australia and UK businesses.
pipelines to quickly make this data
“Many of the challenges we (and other organisations) face stem from a data or
make them available to our teams to
available,” says Turnbull. Altis also helped with the implemen-
an information issue, be it poor quality
tation of a new reporting and analytics
or unknown data or poor practices for
platform using PowerBI. The combina-
governing, exchanging and consuming
tion of the new data warehouse and
information.” This pillar, which is still
PowerBI provided a modern solution
a work in progress, “is the fabric that
to report upon (and share with
joins together our business capabilities
customers through the PowerBI portal)
as it provides a way to build a common
the performance of Digital Television
language we all speak,” says Turnbull.
(DTV) services at all Broadcast
“We have focused our strategy around
Australia tower sites.
the management, integration and availability of structured, unstructured
A CULTURE OF CHANGE
and spatial data (location-based data
The fourth pillar which has been enabled
for the design and run of our sites which
by the first three, is the progressive
includes drawings, maps and photos).”
transformation of business capabilities.
“ Now we are combining video distribution with blog posts and posts in Yammer. Communication needs to come through diverse channels, recognising that people consume information in different ways”
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— Peter Turnbull, CIO, BAI Communications
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Unlike the infrastructure and modern workplace transformation, the transformation of business capabilities is a true cross-functional collaboration. Over the last 3 years, Turnbull has managed the introduction of a group-wide human capital management system (HCM), a health, safety and environment (HSE) system and upgraded the existing asset management solution. “The introduction of the HSE solution has provided an easier way to capture incidents or near misses which help us improve our HSE capability. Incidents 18
and near misses can be reported straight away by jumping onto your mobile device and registering what has occurred. This provides quicker visibility allowing for fast actions and decisions to be made.” With the technology foundations now in
“ We are standing up, collaborating on a digital whiteboard and effortlessly bringing people together (inside and outside the organisation). It’s a much more engaging experience (even remotely) when you’re able to collaborate like this”
place, Turnbull in collaboration with the leadership team, are building a roadmap
— Peter Turnbull, CIO, BAI Communications
to transform key business capabilities including service management, site access and portfolio and project management. There’s always a fifth pillar to IT transformation, and that’s security. BAI, like many companies, use a defence-in-depth approach to security across its administrative, technical and physical environments. In the first half of 2018 the company achieved ISO27001
certification: “The certification provides the certificate, however the cultural change and shift in mindset we achieved by going through this process has provided a foundation for the other pillars we have introduced. We have MFA across all our user accounts; encryption and mobile device management on our workstations and devices, we have a SIEM and security solutions monitoring our environment, However, risk-awareness and personal accountability for security on the part of everyone in the business is as important as the barriers we build�. In closing, Peter Turnbull reflects “As technologists we need to be able to accept that IT is no longer the only source of technical innovation in the business. We are finding that more and more people have IT skills and unique experiences with technology transformation when they come into the organisation. Our role is to enable them to use their skills and experiences in new and innovative ways to help drive our digital transformation.
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Bai communications head office broadcast australia Level 10, Tower A, 799 Pacific Highway Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia T +61 2 8113 4666 www.baicommunications.com